We’ve been lucky on our holidays that we’ve been able to see some great buildings, paintings etc. One particular treat this year was being able to visit Madrid, on a work trip in May.
Dan was able to come with me, and we stayed on a couple of days afterwards. The agency where the meetings took place was conveniently on the same street as some of the main art galleries, making it fairly easy to plan what to see.
We visited the gallery which houses Picasso’s Guernica towards the end of one afternoon. It meant that we could view this particular picture for longer than we might have done.
Looking around other rooms nearby, part of the impact was coming past the entrance to the Guernica room and catching sight of the painting again. It’s surprisingly big, allowing you to move along and look long and hard at different sections.
Stepping back outside into warmth and colour, after the monochromes of the painting, it was great to feel alive.  However, just a few blocks down the street from the gallery is the Atocha railway station, which you may remember was affected by bombings.
It was certainly a reminder that some of the big themes on display in the galleries are not that distant on the outside.